So it’s no secret, my updates have definitely not been up to par lately. I blame this on one thing; one word with 10 letters. Addiction. Yes, my friends I have developed a very unhealthy addiction to something called the Wii. I have decided that the system is extremely evil (butomgiloveitsomuch), especially when playing a game that involves Yoshi.

So, here is a liveblog to force me to update as the Sharks visit Dallas. The NHL is on Versus and The Shootout.

Before the game even starts, we get bad news the Mo is a late scratch with the flu. This does not bode well for a team already missing 3 big names.

1st period
20:00: Stars start with Parrish, Sutherby and Neal. That seems..interesting.

19:06: At least one line is still in tact, Ribbons with Lehts and Otter.

17:40: Oh Roenacker. I forgot about you.

16:28: *clap clap* *clap clap* I miss games at the AAC.

16:00: Do my eyes deceive me? Did I just see Nisky check someone? I’m in shock. And in need of more Red Bull.

15:00: Eriksson is out with Brunnstrom and Petersen in the middle. That could be a promising line! Toby’s been playing pretty well lately.

First off, I’ll get the bad news that Conner was sent back to the AHL, to open cap space for Avery to return to the roster. Of course, he won’t be playing and hopefully they can find a team so he can play again.

Now, onto the game. Holy cow. King Henrik had the flu, so the Rangers started their back up goalie Stephen Valiquette. That poor guy, I feel kinda bad for him. The Rangers started off the scoring, then the Stars attacked, especially in the third period. Here is the laydown of all the scoring.

The Stars fire was no match for that of the Flames, as the Stars beat them 3-1 Tuesday.

Calgary got on the board first, with a power play goal from Michael Cammalleri just under 7 minutes into the game. With under a minute remaining, Jere Lehtinen tied it up on the Stars power play with a tip-in. Only one goal was scored during the second period, and that was ANOTHER power play goal from rookie James Neal. And to put the finishing touches, with just over 3 minutes remaining in the game, Brad Richards made it 3-1, which would remain the final score.

The Stars came out hard, and stayed persistant, winning a lot of puck battles and kept the Flames scoring chances to a minimum. When he needed to make a save Marty Turco was there and looked like the great goalie he was last year in the playoffs. They are definitely looking good right now.

(I apologize for this being so late. I had every intention to update last night, but got distracted by the internet, mostly by failblog and this gem on youtube.)

HOLY COW! That is pretty much all I can say. I honestly can’t remember the last time the Stars did that.

They came out early with the fight to win, going up 4-0 by 2 minutes into the second period. Otter got the scoring started just over 10 minutes in on a power play when he tipped in a shot from Brad Richards at the point. Then, just a little over a minute later, Jere Lehtinen got the Stars second power play goal of the night!!! Chris Conner got into the scoring with under 2 minutes left, shooting the puck at the net right after Modano on the face off.

After the Stars owned the first period, the Wings made a goalie change from Osgood to Conklin. But just 2 minutes into the second, Loui Eriksson made it 4-0 with ANOTHER power play goal. Can you believe that? The Stars who had suffered all season on special teams managed 3 power play goals against the Red Wings.

Hossa and Lilja managed to get the Wings on the board in the second period, but 4-2 would be the final score between the two teams.

I am just so estatic. With that win, the Stars are tied with 51 points with 4 other teams, ranging from 7th-11th place in the standings.

That was more than you could say from Marty’s last shut out in the 1-0 shootout loss against the Coyotes on January 10th. The Stars took control and held it for 60 minutes last night in their game against the Thrashers. Not to take away from the Stars accomplishment, but the Thrashers didn’t seem to put up much of a fight, to be honest. Jere Lehtinen and Steve Ott got the goals to give the Stars a 2-0 win. A great way to start what they call the second half of the season. Let’s hope this trend continues.

In other news, yesterday the Stars assigned Fabian Brunnstrom to the Manitoba Moose. This is, of course, for conditioning since he has been out injured with a high ankle sprain. Not gonna lie, I’m a tad jealous of those going to the Moose game Thursday, where Brunnstrom will make his debut. I want to see Fabbity Fab and Fishsticks play again, especially together. Boo.

Yesterday was the 3rd of 6 meetings between the two teams this season. The Stars had been 0-2-0 against them this season, both losses being 3-2; one of which being a shootout loss.

Both teams seemed determine to get 2 points out of this game, and for the first two periods, it looked like it was going to be another game like the Coyotes, both goalies getting the shutout. But less than 7 minutes into the third, the LA Kings got up 1-0. Then under 5 minutes later, as Lehtinen is racing up the ice, Ribeiro passes him the puck. Lehtinen splits the D to make it 1-1.

With just over a minute remaining in the game, the Sydor shot the puck from the blue line, where Ribeiro tipped it in to give them a 2-1 lead. After the goal, Johnson went after Otter, and it ended up being 4-on-4. The Kings pulled Ersberg to make it 5-on-4 and managed to get one past a scrambling Turco with 17 seconds left in the game.

This one ended up needing to go to a shootout.

Alexander Frolov was up first, which Marty got a hold of

Mike Ribeiro decided not to be fancy and shot it in to the put the Stars up 1-0

Dustin Brown went up the middle, then got his shot off fast only for Marty to make a fantastic glove save

Jere Lehtinen went in and shot only to have Ersberg deflect it high over the net

Jack Johnson had the game on his shoulders, only to have Marty tell him no and get the 3-2 victory.

The Three Stars of the game were

Jere Lehtinen

Dustin Brown

Mike Ribeiro

And each player had a goal and an assist in the game. Jere Lehtinen is currently on a 3-game point streak, earning 1 goal and 3 assists for 4 points.
It was a very good well fought game for both teams. They won’t meet again until March at the Staples Center, and yours truely will be there to root on my team!

That makes for a great holiday season for Stars fans. The Stars have gone 4-0-1 in their last 5 games, 9 points they so desperately need.

The last game before the holidays, December 23rd against the Maple Leafs, was a beating for the Leafs. Only 4 Stars players did not register a point in the 8-2 win; Loui Eriksson, Toby Petersen, Brian Sutherby and Darryl Sydor. Even Marty Turco got into the action by getting an assist on Neal’s 3rd goal. Yes, Neals third goal, our little rookie got his first hat trick in his career that night. It was an extremely high scoring game (obviously) so here is the run down.

1st Period

James Neal (Trevor Daley, Jere Lehtinen)

Steve Ott (Mike Ribeiro, Fabian Brunnstrom)

Fabian Brunnstrom (Steve Ott, Stephane Robidas)

PPG Brad Richards (Stephane Robidas, Mike Modano)

2nd Period

Krystopher Barch (Landon Wilson, Trevor Daley)

Mike Ribeiro (Landon Wilson, Matt Niskanen)

James Neal (Nicklas Grossman, Jere Lehtinen)

Jason Blake (Dominic Moore, Tomas Kaberle)

3rd Period

Mikhail Grabovski (Andre Deveaux, Lee Stempniak)

PPG James Neal (Andrew Hutchinson, Marty Turco)

The three stars of the game were

James Neal

Stephane Robidas

Trevor Daley

Phew. Then 2 days after Christmas, the Stars took on division rivals Anaheim Ducks. It was a close game, having to be decided in overtime. Scoring was as follows

The 2009 Modern Luxury Stars Calender is now for sale. They began selling it at the game against the Blue Jackets Thursday and are now available at the Frisco Star Center as of yesterday. Other Star Center’s should have it within the week I believe. Being that I am currently without a scanner, I will just tell you who is what month

January – Nicklas Grossman & Matt Niskanen

February – Steve Ott

March – Joel Lundqvist & Loui Eriksson

April – Mike Modano

May – Sergei Zubov

June – Jere Lehtinen

July – Marty Turco

August – Stephane Robidas

September – Trevor Daley

October – Brad Richards

November – Mike Ribeiro

December – Brenden Morrow

In other news, the Stars lost in overtime Saturday 5-4 against the Ottawa Senators. The good news was that we got 1 point, and since it was an eastern conference team, we didn’t give any points up to a team also fighting for a playoff spot in the west. The other fantastic news was Jere Lehtinen played and is finally off injured reserve. Everyone celebrate!